The ACU Symons Award honours individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the ACU, or to higher education in the Commonwealth.
Established by Professor T.H.B Symons in 1973, former Chair of the ACU Council and founding President of Trent University, Canada, the award is presented at the AGM, or on some other suitable occasion. It was formerly a piece of silver but the Award is now a bronze medal specially designed by the late Canadian artist, Dora de Pedery Hunt.
1973 |
Sir Charles Wilson, Principal, |
1973 |
Sir Douglas Logan, Principal, |
1974 |
Professor J. Auchmuty, Vice-Chancellor, |
1975 |
Dr J. Foster, former Secretary General, ACU (awarded posthumously) |
1976 |
Mr S. Stackpole, retiring Director, Commonwealth Program, Carnegie Corporation of |
1977 |
No awards were made |
1978 |
Dr H.E. Duckworth, President, |
1979 |
Mr R.C. Griffiths, Director, Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas |
1980 |
Sir Hugh Springer, former Secretary General, ACU |
1981 |
Sir David Derham, Vice-Chancellor, |
1982 |
Dr Anirik Singh, retiring Secretary of the Association of Indian Universities |
1983 |
Mr J.R. Stewart, retiring Principal, |
1984 |
Dr A.T. Porter, retiring Vice-Chancellor, |
1985 |
Professor S. Wijesundera, Vice-Chancellor, |
1986 |
Mr E.E. Temple, former Assistant Secretary General ACU in charge of Commonwealth Scholarships |
1987 |
Professor A.O. Adesola, Vice-Chancellor, |
1988 |
Sir Albert Sloman, former Vice-Chancellor, |
1989 |
Mr T. Craig, former Deputy Secretary General ACU, in charge of Publications and Information |
1990 |
Mrs Kamalini Bhansali, former Vice-Chancellor, S.N.D.T. Women’s University |
1991 |
Professor G.D. Sims, former Vice-Chancellor, |
1992 |
Professor W.J. Kamba, former Vice-Chancellor, |
1993 |
Professor L.M. Birt, former Vice-Chancellor and Principal, |
1994 |
Professor Lydia P. Makhubu, Vice-Chancellor, |
1995 |
Mr P.B. Hetherington, former Deputy Secretary General ACU, and Head of Commonwealth Awards and Appointments |
1996 |
Dr C.B. Mackay, former President, |
1997 |
Dr Arnold Naimark, former President and Vice-Chancellor, |
1998 |
Dr Jasbir Singh, former Chief Programme Officer in the Education Department of the Commonwealth Secretariat |
1999 |
Sir Colin Maiden, Vice-Chancellor of the |
2000 |
Dr James Downey, President and Vice-Chancellor of the |
2000 |
Special Millennium Award Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, in appreciation of his institution of a series of scholarship schemes for education at all levels in |
2001 |
Lalage Bown, Professor Emeritus of the |
2002 |
Dr Geoffrey Caston, former Vice-Chancellor of the |
2003 |
Professor Michael Kelly, formerly of the |
2004 - 2007 |
No awards were made |
2008 |
Professor Brenda Gourley, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University and Chair of the ACU Council Sir John Daniel, President and Chief Executive Officer of the |
2009 |
Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities Dorothy Garland, Deputy Secretary General (External) of the Association of Commonwealth Universities |
2010 |
Professor Crispus Kiamba, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, and Permanent Secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Science and Technology, for his strong advocacy of both higher education and Commonwealth Collaboration. |
2011-2012 |
No awards were made |
2013 |
Centenary Symons Medal: Professor Sir David King, former Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, UK, and the ACU's Centenary Lecture Series speaker. |
2015 | Professor Nathu Ram Puri, entrepreneur, industrialist, and strong supporter of higher education |